“It feels so surreal. I cannot believe that I’m here right now” – opined Hezly Rivera after being christened as one of the illustrious members of the Olympic team. The course of her career over the past month has 16-year-old Hezly Rivera in near disbelief. Breaking the shackles, the underdog is the youngest athlete to compete for Team USA, announcing that she’s here to stay. More so, teamed up with veterans well-acquainted with the pressures of the Olympic stage, the ‘teenager’ stands out as the only debutant in the U.S. Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Olympics squad this year, and the only one of Latina descent, no less, something that’s a rarity in the cut throat gymnastics world.

However, rewinding to a few years back, one notices that Rivera isn’t the pioneer to have touched this milestone first. The 2016 Rio Games saw Laurie Hernandez march off to a similar start, interestingly, when she was 16 too. Extraordinary right? The same age, and the same career achievement. But when this statistic was highlighted recently, it didn’t get a grand welcome by the gymnastics fans. If anything, their reaction was the stark opposite.

Hezly Rivera treading in Laurie Hernandez’s footsteps?

Taking to their Instagram handle, Inside Gymnastics Magazine added a post on 11th July. Displaying a collage split between the two gymnasts, they wrote “Hezly Rivera joins Laurie Hernandez in History Books.” How so, one might instantly wonder. Well, the caption comes to the rescue, as it clarifies the connection. It states, “Rising star Hezly Rivera is the first gymnast to qualify to the U.S. Olympic team in her senior debut since Laurie Hernandez in 2016!” But unfortunately, it failed to receive the intended appreciation from the audience.

Previously, at the 2016 US Gymnastics Olympic Trials, Hernandez had achieved a similar distinction. Standing 2nd all-around with a 121.150 total, she had confirmed her place amongst the five finalists who were off to Brazil. Surprisingly, Hernandez was the youngest, just 16 at the time, much like Rivera is this season. In fact, both of them are now part of the 6-woman tally, consisting of gymnasts who sailed through to the Olympics as senior year newcomers. It features notable names like Kyla Ross, Courtney McCool, Brandy Johnson, and Chelle Stack.

However, the comparative element while sharing this similarity between the 2-time Olympics Champion Hernandez and Rivera did not seem to have settled well with the fans. Taking to the comment section below, many sneered at them being bracketed together.

Fans seemed angered by the Rivera-Hernandez parallel-drawn

Records break, patterns repeat. None of this is new in sports. But each player has a distinct identity, which remains constant. Thus, one of the fans seemed enraged by the comparison and wrote, “She isnt like laurie she is like HERSELF, i thought we learned to stop comparing gymnasts sum years ago especially after all of the abuse some of the girls went through.” The fan further iterated that the comparison is uncalled for even if she doesn’t make it to the final event. Due to the prevailing system of abuse running neck deep in gymnastics, the user pointed out that it would be incorrect to make these baseless comparisons.

What Rivera has managed to achieve at this age is magnificent. Rightly so, Hernandez agrees. In a recent interview, the veteran’s optimism about Rivera’s potential came alive. She said, “new Hezly Rivera being a part of this team allows for some fresh eyes and fresh experiences to be out there on the floor,” thereby shunning all who perhaps reckoned her as ‘less experienced’. Similarly, a fan chimed in with “they are making such a big deal about her age (which not that long ago 16 used to be not at all noteworthy) and trying to link her with Laurie…..Would love more of a “lets get to know her” and “cant wait to see how she does” instead of putting her in boxes based on her age and what former gymnasts did….” The user implied that age should not be the barometer to measure her success and comparisons also detract from the actual spunk Rivera possesses.

Speaking of Rivera’s gymnastic verve, she ascended to the senior competitions just this year. But despite the competition, the youngster did not disappoint. At the 2024 Winter Cup, her triple layered victory featured a balance beam gold and two bronze medals in AA and FX, respectively. In fact, Hernandez herself stated that the New Jersey native will “bring in a lot of consistency and clean gymnastics” to Team USA. And that, “she’ll score very well.” But one of the fans resented Rivera being measured against Hernandez. They wrote, “She’s not like Laurie Hernandez, Laurie can medal in all around and she actually medal on beam. Hezly can’t make any event final..” It seems each had their own reason to call out this comparison.

But history attests that Hernandez and Rivera are not the trailblazers in this aspect. There have been first-year senior gymnasts before them who were the actual trendsetters. And the well-informed followers of the sport were quick to pick this. One of them wrote, “There’s been someone in the team in their senior elite debut on most Olympic teams for USA. There was none for Tokyo but this is by no means a rare occurrence.” They disregarded the hype behind this comparison, whilst another one cheekily remarked, “First since 2016 literally just means “didn’t happen in Tokyo.””

What is your opinion? Are the fan reactions justified? Let us know below.